SHAGGY, SHOVEL-HEADED RHINO EVOLVED IN TIBET

Emily F. -- Woolly rhinos and other large prehistoric animals were the first to evolve that could tolerate the cold temperatures. This was an evolutionary cradle for Ice Age mega plant-eaters, according to a new paper. A current study helps explain why so many different species lived in North America, Europe and
Asia during the last Ice Age (2.8mya). They adapted to the cold temperatures in the west Himalayans
before moving around to other areas. Most of the animals were very large, and covered with long hair. There are known theorys that some of the animals grew larger, the colder the weather was.

I found this article interesting, because the Ice Age is a cool topic to learn about! I thought the theory on the animals growing larger due to the cooler temperatures was neat. I also liked this article because it reminded me of the Ice Age movie Serious. Those movies and this article have made want to do more research on the Ice Age time period.

Link:  SHAGGY, SHOVEL-HEADED RHINO EVOLVED IN TIBET

Up from the Depths: How Bacteria Capture Carbon in the 'Twilight Zone'

Justin G. -- Archaea a deep sea single celled organism has been able to make there engery out of other bacteria in the deep sea ocean creating carbon. they create there engery by trapping the carbon and uses there single celled genomes to creat metbolic capabilites.

I think this will help medicine alot because they could probably rearrange the atoms to take certain atoms out of diseases. it also could work for military things like the thing from G-I Joe that had little Anit-bodies that could eat almost any particles. i think this a big step finding out how things down there live also because ive never heard of anything on the surface that could change stuff into carbon.


Link:  Up from the Depths: How Bacteria Capture Carbon in the 'Twilight Zone'

To the rescue -- finding a purpose for rejected shelter dogs

Lizette Y. -- In Santa Paula, California rescue downs are used to help find people after a disaster has occurred. The association is called the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation Founded by Wilma Melville. The dogs have all been trained and have been to the Japan when the earth quake happened and, the tornado that happened in Missouri. All of the dogs Melville gets are 90% from Animal shelters. All the dogs that look capable of being a rescue dogs go through a test but only few pass.

I think this is good thing she is doing because Sense dog are able to track down people if there buried or stuck underneath something or even missing. So it is saving a lot of people’s life just because what she is doing. Maybe if people discover what she is doing then possibly other people will follow her and help her.

Link:  To the rescue -- finding a purpose for rejected shelter dogs

Fish (Happily) Out of Water

Natalie R. -- A new fish has been discovered, the Pacific Leaping Blenny. These fish have been found living outside of water. They still need water to live, so they have to live right next to the water, but they can remain outside the water as long as they have some water inside them. These “walking fish” are very capable outside of the water; they can still
mate and do the things they need to do to survive. But when they completely dry up, they can no longer breathe and would suffocate.

A walking fish is awesome. Though it isn’t completely a fish out of water, it can partially live on land. I think that it is a new step towards new species. This fish shows us that we and all other animals are still constantly evolving. We are always moving forward so our species can survive and live on.

Link:  "Walking" Fish a Model of Evolution in Action

Study Finds That Injecting Old Mice With Young Mouse Blood Has a Rejuvenating Effect

Toyosi O. -- Researchers from Stanford took blood from a young mouse and injected it into an older mouse. When they did this the older mouse was “Rejuvenated”. More neutrons were fired which caused the mouse to think and react quicker. When they injected the younger mouse with blood from the older mouse the younger mouse acted more like how an older mouse would act.

I found this article interesting for many reasons. If we can make mice act “younger” then what about humans? Could this help humans live longer or have more energy?  I wonder if it would be possible for scientist to find things that would cause more neutrons to fire in the brain and use it as a “cure” to anti aging. I think that this new knowledge could be very beneficial to help fight dieses that are due to aging.

Link:  Study Finds That Injecting Old Mice With Young Mouse Blood Has a Rejuvenating Effect

Plant develops echo to attract bats

Rachel T. -- This article is mainly about the evolution of the Marcgravia evenia, a plant that has developed a curved-shaped leaf next to the flowers which helps as a reflector of sounds. The bats that the plant is trying to attract need a lot of food supply to fulfill their energy. With these new leaves, the bats can be more efficient in finding and eating their food quotas per night. Also, the plant needs the bats to move the pollen and seeds from place to place frequently, since Marcgravia evenia grows in such low abundance. In all
this new adaptation and evolution is a mutual benefit interaction.

I thought that this article related a lot to our last unit of Biology. The adaptation of this plant just hit me right off the bat as one of the Ten Themes of Biology, as well as the interaction of the plant and the bats. I liked this article too because it gave me a little bit of insight on the world around me and I want to be more aware of the things that are occurring on the earth. The Marcgravia evenia sort of reminded me of the Venus fly trap for some reason and how they both have a part curved, even if the concave parts serve different purposes.

Link:  Plant develops echo to attract bats

Night Owls More Likely to Suffer from Nightmares, Survey Suggests

Jaden K. -- According to many scientific studies, people who stay up late are more likely to get night mares.  Around 80% of adults have at least one nightmare a year, while five percent get about one every month.  College students have also been studied for this showing that their late night studying (or partying) makes it more likely to have nightmares. Yavuz Selvi and other scientist made a study to a variety of people asking to rate the frequency of their nightmares from one being the lowest to four being the highest. They had found that people who call themselves evening people rated around 2.10 while people who called themselves morning people had an average of 1.23. Even though the cause of nightmares is still partly unknown, this shows that going to bed late is still a factor.

Throughout this article it shows more and more facts and examples that nightmares partly come from staying up late to a lack of sleep. It’s very interesting to know about and knowing this I might start heading to bed a little earlier. Looking at this article it shows that scientists are not just looking at space or medication. They are also trying to help us the small things in life. From dreams to dinosaurs to space who knows what is going to be learned about next, all I know is that I should start heading to bed.

Link:  Night Owls More Likely to Suffer from Nightmares, Survey Suggests

Humans made sophisticated tools before was thought possible

Joey A. -- Scientists have figured out that early humans (Homo erectus) have been able to make advanced tools from up to 1.8 million years ago, a whole 300,000 years further back than thought. It's a little weird, because Homo erectus came in to view about 2 million years ago, and they weren't just making tools that consisted of a stick and a pebble attached, they were shaving stones in to points and attaching them to sticks. These tools suggested that they could hack away joints, and be able to butcher animals more effectively than their previous tools. That also meant they were able to think ahead, and were possibly more sophisticated than scientists thought. Along with that, scientists also believed that the Homo erectus species could have lived at the same time as their bretherin, the Homo habilis, because they had similarties between their tools. Homo erectus could have possibly migrated to Dmansi, Georgia, and lost all of their new found technology, which could have made all of the scientists suggestions invalid. Archaeologists started researching this, and they are still discovering something new every day.

I think that if homo erectus really did come up with all of that technology, scientists would have found out by now. It just sounds kind of ridiculous because the cousin of Homo erectus, the Homo habilis, could have made this technology, which makes sense. I also find it hard to believe that when they possibly migrated to Georgia, they lost their technology. If I was Homo erectus, I would hold onto those new tools for dear life and would not let them out of my sight! I had to take into consideration that they were not as sophisticated as us, but still! Just think how mad they must have been! I did however, think that this article was intersting, and I enjoyed reading about it, cause I had no idea that dextrous beings lived that far back.

Link:  Humans Shaped Stone Axes 1.8 Million Years Ago: Advanced Tool-Making Methods Pushed Back in Time

New Genetic Circuit Detects Cancerous Cells and Forces Them To Commit Suicide

Antonio W. -- In cancer, there are specific molecules that makes cancer... well, cancer. Recently, researchers at MIT and ETH Zurich have made a logic circuit system that detects cells and whether or not it has certain cancerous molecules. When at least five are detected, the body orders self destruction. They studied that the HeLa cancer cells have about 1,000 types of microRNA, the regulator of RNA, the sender of DNA information, each having unique properties. They developed an artificial code inside that instructed to make new self destruction proteins. It would only turn on if the levels of miRNA are present in the right amounts, leaving those that lack the HeLa gene alone. It cannot yet be used on a living animal, but is a step forward towards cancer treatment.

After some research, I have learned that as of 2007, over 1.5 million people in North America had cases of cancer. This is one step closer to getting rid of this terrible disease. Similar to this was a type of bee venom that was modified to find and destroy only cancer cells. I know that there are many people out there suffering, waiting for a cure. I personally don't know anyone who has died of cancer, but I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose someone that close. I hope that this prevents people in the future from having to go through things such as chemotherapy . With September 11th coming up, I hope that the brave men and women who sacrificed their health to save others become rewarded.

Link:  New Genetic Circuit Detects Cancerous Cells and Forces Them To Commit Suicide

Dolphin whisperer can help us talk to E.T.

Arianna K. -- For 27 years, marine biologist Denise Herzing and colleagues have been regular visitors in the Atlantic Ocean home of a 200-member pod of spotted dolphin living north of the Bahama islands. Understand the relationships between the members of the pod is key to unraveling what their dozens of whistles, clicks and other signals mean. “The large goal of this project is to tell the story of what it's like to be a dolphin,” Herzing , a researcher with Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and the founder and head of the Wild Dolphin Project, told Discovery news. “There are times that they play games with us in the water,” Herzing said. “This particular group seems to be curious about us, probably because we're in the water analyzing them. Scientist are trying to teach dolphins to communicate with humans with curtain noises. Some scientist are using this to communicate with wild dolphins.

The purpose of the article is to inform people that dolphins and possibly other animals can communicate with one another and us. This can help us understand other animals and find a way to help preserve their habitats and maybe fix the ones humans destroyed. This is interesting because it shows that animals are capable of thinking and feeling. It also shows that animal experiments are wrong, if they can't do it on humans they shouldn't do it on other humans. The article should show more examples of the communication and more reasons it is useful.

Link:  Dolphin whisperer can help us talk to E.T.